InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Lifetime Loving You Part 1; Seasons in Owari ❯ Vows of a Dog Demon ( Chapter 27 )

Chapter 27; Vows of a Dog Demon

(Inu-taisho)

When you're a demon, you learn to focus on one thing, understand one truth, and live out one kind of life. All my life I had looked for something more...and I found it in a human woman's eyes.

Without the ability to smell, I had the flea, Myoga, at my side leading me to Kyoto as I flew through the sky. The cloud at each of my feet puffed with a fury in them to take what I had decided was mine. The lips I had proved that she had given her heart to me. I would not allow her to be bound to another man.

"I swore never to kill another human life as long as I am at her side. I have forsaken the demon lifestyle for her, and if I must be shamed, than let it be so."

The flea blinked a few times. "There is much shame in living out a life with a human woman, Lord Inu-taisho. However, this emotion you express for her does not sound like shame to me. You have made your choice, and with nobility I have not seen in most demons. If you will permit me, I would like to be at your side to aid you."

I looked at the tiny flea, and grinned. "Thank you, Father Myoga!"

~~~~

(Mika)

How did it come to this?

How did it come that I would be sitting here looking at myself in this over decorated kimono with my mother looking at me with no tears in her eyes, but this fake look for joy in her eyes?

The woman had never truly raised me, the nurse had, and even she did not aid me in seeing the truth behind that beautiful demon's soul. I had learned it from the palace monk, who had told me that all creatures of this world had something worthy in them.

Inu-taisho only needed someone to listen to him, to be beside him, to love him. I loved him, but was I permitted to love a demon instead of a man? Did it matter?

My heart was calling his name as I sat before my lady's and they painted my eyes and powered my face. I felt like a doll, an object that was being prepared for market and nothing more. I would mean nothing to this man, except to be the woman he bore his children from.

I'd rather be baring Inu-taisho's child rather that his. I know it would be shameful to say or do such a thing, but this was true. I'd rather live with a son of his blood, than live with one that did not see love in his young life.

I sat there before my mirror for what felt like hours after my ladies have left me. I did not feel like a bride. I felt like a prisoner trapped in the walls of the Kyoto Castle with nothing more than a crown to be earned that would turn me into a slave.

I didn't hear my mother's words, only that she was happy for me, but could I ever be happy for myself?

I missed him. I longed for him. I longed for everything about him; his touch, his breath, his embrace, his warmth, his kiss, his body, his soul...and on and on until it came to the tiniest thing about him. I even loved his arrogance and honor. He was a free soul. He was everything I wanted to be but couldn't.

I excused myself and walked down a corridor of my palace were the people of the city had gathered in the courtyard to await the news of my marriage. I was so miserable, and now, even though they didn't know it yet, my people would be miserable too.

"She will make a fine wife," I heard my father say in the closed off room behind me. "She is fruitful and will bare your son many children, and the nation will never see a finer ruler."

I glared at the curtain and felt tears begin to form. No! My father was wrong to make me wed such a man. My destiny must lie in another place. I must have another purpose that to be a child barer for a young lord who would rule my land...my people.

"Inu-taisho...know that no matter what happens tonight, my vows will not be from my heart, for you have taken it from me. My heart is yours, and ever shall be."

I felt a tear roll down my face and made sure it was gone before it ruined my make-up. To hide my tears I looked up to the sky as the stars sparkled and shined. The moon would not hide their beauty tonight, just like my heart would not hide its love for Inu-taisho.

"If the sky...opened up for me,

And the mountain disappeared,

If the seas ran dry, turned to dust

And the sun refused to rise

I would still find my way,

By the light I see in your eyes

The world I know fades away

But you stay

~

As the earth reclaims its due

And the cycle starts anew

We'll stay, always

In the love that we have shared before time

~

If the years take away

Every memory that I have

I would still know the way

That would lead me back to your side

The North Star may die

But the light that I see in your eyes

Will burn there always

Lit by the love we have shared before time

~

When the forest turns to jade

And the stories that we've made

Dissolve away

One shining light will still remain

~

When we shed out earthly skin

And when our real life begins

There'll be no shame

Just a love that we have made before time"

I seem to sing this little song with a heavy heart. 'He won't come for me...he will think it was I who ordered him to be taken away without the ability to smell any scent of the earth again in order to protect my kingdom.

'Inu-taisho has changed, at least in the time I knew him. I wonder if our love will be strong enough to tell him that this was not my doing...I pray that he won't take a human life again, or taste human blood for that matter. He loves me...he must still love me.'

"Milady? It is time!"

~~~~

(Inu-taisho)

I flew through the air as my heart began to beat faster in a panic. The stars were out and the last signs of sunset were now beginning to fade. Time was running out, and my body was beginning to loose hope, but my heart was calling her name so loudly that I had to keep going.

"Lord Inu-taisho, slow down or I'll loose the scent."

"I can't! If I slow down now I'll miss my chance. She'll be bound to him. I have to make it. I must make it."

~~~~

(Mika)

Music began to resound in my ears and the march began in the Kyoto shrine. I stood in my wedding robes with my hand against my heart as the man I was to marry came into view in his black kimono.

'Kami, here my prayer, if it a sin to love a demon the way that I do, then please let me live in my sin. My unhappiness will make me weak. Please grant me joy...please grant me true love?'

The Shinto priest came into view as I stood before them in my white robes and made my way down the ally with my closest family and his near. I was an object in their eyes. The object that would produce this man's child and give my people an heir. No! Please tell me I have another purpose? Kami? Please tell me my life is linked to his? I cannot love this man. I love him! I love...

My eyes swelled and my voice cracked a whisper only I could hear as tears formed in my eyes. I said his name. I said the name my heart was crying out to say.

"Inu...taisho..."

~~~~

(Inu-taisho)

My ears rang and my head turned to the clouds at my left. The pounding in my chest stopped for a second and I came to a hovering halt in the air above the clouds.

The flea caught his breath and whipped the sweat from his brow. "What is it?"

I caught my breath slowly as my eyes widened in the direction I had heard it. "It's her...She's calling me! Her heart is calling mine!"

I took off in the direction knowing I wasn't far. I flew through clouds and air; no longer following Myoga's nose, but my heart. I let every heartbeat direct me and let it listen to the sound of her heart crying out my name.

Hold on, Mika! Please, I'm coming! Just hold on!

"Lord Inu-taisho!" I heard the flea cry out from my shoulder and turned to him.

"What is it, Father Myoga?"

The flea jumped, "My Lord, look there! Look down there!" he squealed like a child, jumping and pointing to the ground.

I looked down as the clouds began to clear beneath me to behold Kyoto; it's palace, shrine, and all it's glory. The people crowed outside of the palace Shinto Shrine with lanterns and chants with prayers of good fortune and a new future.

I came to a halt and felt panic rise in my chest. "The ceremony has begun...I'm too late!"

Myoga jumped on my shoulder. "It isn't over yet. You must do something my lord! You must stop the ceremony before the one she is to wed makes his vows of commitment, before they drink the sake."

All I could see were the people, and remembered the promise I had made. "No, I can't! I can't do it! I swore I would never harm a human life again. I swore it...because she is one of them."

Myoga growled. "Who said you had to kill anyone? Make a distraction!"

I turned to him. "What?"

"My Lord, these people of Kyoto fear you, they will run. All you are here for his Lady Mika, you do not need to kill any of them if you bluff. But you must first give them reason to panic."

I looked to the large crowd below me. "A reason to panic? What can I do? I want them to know that I feel compassion for them, not coldness and evil?"

Myoga jumped, "Yes, but if you do not do something that will be convincing, you will never be able to hold Lady Mika in your arms again!"

What could I do? I didn't want to abandon all that I had vowed to Mika. Yet how could I make them believe I hadn't without bringing them any harm?

'I'll bluff! I'll make them believe I'm there to kill, and offer them a chance to protect themselves. I'll bargain!'

I looked to the city below me as the wind brushed against my ears and wove through my silver mane. I took a deep breath and raised my head to the stars.

~~~~

(Mika)

I didn't expect it. To be honest from the moment the Shinto priest had purified me and the man I thought I would spend the rest of my life with; I had given up hope of ever seeing Inu-taisho again.

As my 'husband-to-be' handed me the sake, I felt my soul stir, knowing that one sip of the rice wine would end my dreams of ever being in Inu-taisho's arms again.

I slowly raised the saucer of wine to my lips, but before my lips touched the holy liquid that would turn my life into a nightmare, I heard a howl.

A roar resounded through the walls of the shrine and I turned to the back of the shrine as family gasped and looked around in uncertainty and fear. A second roar echoed through the halls and I heard my father whisper, "No! Not now! That demon can't be attacking us now! Not on the night of my daughter's wedding!"

The saucer of sake fell from my hands when a third roar came that sounded closer and deeper. It smashed on the floor leaving the wine in a spread out puddle mixed with the broken plate's pieces. "He came!" I felt my voice crack as shrieks and screams came from the courtyard.

Suddenly, fear ran through my heart. The sound of his roar made me fear that he had come believing I had deceived him. Was he here to take their lives? Was he here to take mine? Or was he here to take me away?

With in seconds, the roof of the shrine shook and crumbled in a large area and collected in the center of the shrine. Guest screamed in dear as dust made a cloud around the object that had created the hole in the shrine's roof.

I took a step forward and felt the man I was to marry pull me back and draw his sword. The Shinto priest began to whisper words to ward off the evil presence his was sensing, and then I knew. It was him!

The dust began to clear and only rubble lay in the center of the shrine. The wind blew violently through the shrine and the guest gasped and shrieked as the lamps went out in the shrine. My hair came apart and wisps of black locks crossed my face.

Then it all came to a halt. I fell to my knees in fear and looked around. 'Inu-taisho, I didn't deceive you! I love you! Please, you must know that I still love you!'

Suddenly a low growl hummed through the large space, and my father mumbled as his eyes became fixed on something on the roof. I turned my head quickly and found my eyes looking at a dark shadow of a silver haired dog with his claws dug deep into the ceiling of the shrine. His eyes blazing with a blood red color that glowed in the darkness, and large fangs that gleamed like daggers.

It was him, but he wasn't in his largest form. He as large as a man and tall as one too, but still in this smaller version, he made my heart tremble in fear.

He jumped down from his perch and landed before the rubble with his fur standing on end and large amounts of drool dripping from his fangs that sizzled as it touched the ground.

The priest looked at him. "Demon, be gone from this place. Your evil is not welcome here!"

I turned to him and back to Inu-taisho. The demon dog prowled forward, and his voice was almost unrecognizable to me. He was laughing; laughing as though he was about to kill something. Inu-taisho had caught my father with his guard down, and thus would give him the perfect chance to kill and do us all in.

"Emperor, you celebrate an event that I was not welcome to? How could you start such a joyous occasion without thinking of the consequences of having your guard down on such a night?"

My father gripped my mother to his body and held her steadfast. I had never seen such fear in their eyes.

I stood up and pulled back my hair from my face and looked at him. His eyes turned to me once he had caught my move and everyone jumped when he did. I felt no fear...I only felt tears form in my eyes and run down my face. Had he come for me for deception, or had he come to kill because he knew this day would bring him opportunity? Had he deceived me into thinking he had loved me?

I felt my body weaken as I looked into those burning red eyes. I didn't see the Inu-taisho I once knew. The man I had loved and prayed so long for. "Have you forgotten?" I whispered loud enough for only me to her.

Then, his expression changed once he realized that I was heartbroken. He had made me believe the wrong thing. His red eyes dimmed, and his face softened as his body relaxed.

He then narrowed his brow and closed his eyes. He sat down and bowed his head as a cloud of white that formed at his paws began to engulf him; a white light formed silhouetting his form. Slowly that light began to change as the mists disappeared, and before us all Inu-taisho stood in his human-like form.

Slowly he opened his eyes and the two golden orbs I had come to love looked at me. My heart skipped a beat and I placed my hand over my chest as his eyes told me everything I needed to know. My tears dried and I looked at him.

His expression changed and he looked at those around him before returning his eyes to my father. "This is the form I masquerade in when I decide to take your form. The form you have desired to see me in for these many generations, like your fathers before you.

"Now, you will only see it once if you so choose...and comply with my bargain."

I turned to my father as he glared at him. "You vile beast! I will not make any such bargain with the likes of you."

Inu-taisho narrowed his brow and a low growl could be heard stirring the hearts of the guests. "Hear me, Lord of these many lands, it was your fathers' blood that gave birth to this kingdom, and you placed your city in my lands. For that you have been cursed with my bloodlines' curse.

"Yet, I am willing to bargain this time and only this time.

"Pay me in your blood, and I will never hunt your people again."

The guest gasped and I saw my father's anger grown in his eyes to the point he almost looked as fearful as Inu-taisho did a moment ago. "Even if you kill me, you will not be rid of my blood!"

Inu-taisho smirked and bowed his head. "You mistake me then...I have come for you daughter."

I felt my heart jump. He had come to save me. Inu-taisho, you do love me! You do care for me to the point that you would risk coming to this place to spare me from this life of misery.

My father yelled, "No such bargain will be made!"

The man next to me pulled me behind him and guarded me with his sword. I looked over his shoulder at Inu-taisho. I felt trapped, and scared. No, please! Don't let it end like this. Let me be with him!

Inu-taisho's body stiffened with anger, and I understood him completely. I wouldn't let him! I wouldn't let him break his promise. He couldn't! Not for me!

I cried out and pushed the man I was to marry aside and ran to him. "Inu- taisho!"

I ran to him with my hair flying around me and my robes falling to the floor leaving me in a simple white kimono. My eyes were strewn with tears of joy and sadness. I ran into his open arms and my lips met his as fresh tears ran down my face. My arms wrapped around his neck, holding on to him for dear life almost as his hands found the small in my back and pulled me closer to him.

His kiss was warm and sweet, and it revived the weakening feeling in my body and turned it into strength. My hands touched his face trying to remember everything about him as our kiss deepened.

Somehow our heart spoke to each other through that kiss. In that one brief moment, our hearts spoke volumes.

'Why did you leave me? Why did your kiss go away? Your touch?'

'My nurse discovered us and had you taken away. I wanted to get to you...I wanted to see you again, to kiss you again.'

'I missed you so...My nose will never be able to smell your warm scent again, but my heart can. It led me to you. Your heart called for mine. I couldn't forget you. I didn't want to forget you.'

'Inu-taisho...I love you! I don't care who or what you are, but this much is true. I love you, and that is all that matters to me. I would never do anything to harm you or cause you pain. I'll fight anything that causes you pain again. I'll stay beside you.'

'Mika!'

The sounds of gasps and relatives swooning never came to my ears as my lips stayed connected to his. Slowly, they parted as Inu-taisho came for air and our eyes met. He whispered to me as he touched my face. "I love you!"

I smiled and touched his lips with my fingertip. "I love you, too!"

He bent down to kiss me once more, when my father's voice boomed through the shrine. "No!"

Inu-taisho raised his eyes and I turned my head as I clutched my love's armor. My father sneered at us both. "You have bewitched her! You've placed a curse on her to make her believe that she loves you, you beast!"

I looked to him and protested. "Father, please don't do this! Inu-taisho has changed. He won't harm any of us. Please, believe me!"

He didn't hear a word I said and clenched two fists before us both. "You shame me with a curse, you demon!"

Inu-taisho looked around us both as guards began to gather. I felt his arm grip me and I held on to him as the clouds at his feet returned. My grip tightened as he bent his knees and shot through the hole in the shrine up into the heavens as my father called out curses to us both. Inu-taisho's arms wrapped around me as we flew face to face above the clouds.

"My family has rejected me. I can never go back home!"

His nose brushed against mine and he whispered sweetly to me. "I will give your heart a home and a family that will not shame you. I no longer have a son to care for nor a pack to protect, for my family has shamed me as well."

I turned to him and touched his face. "Then we are both outsiders. Shamed by our own blood because of this feeling we hold for one another."

Inu-taisho looked into my eyes. "I would rather be shamed than live a life without you."

I licked my lips and felt my body begin to flutter with the emotions in my body that were only meant for him. His voice returned to me. "I will never let you go. I will protect you and care for you. We will live out our life in peace. We'll make our own family, our own lives. And...we will be free...free to love."

I closed my eyes and let my nose touch his. "Is this your vow of commitment to me, Inu-taisho?"

He grinned sweetly. "Yes...this is my vow."

That night, Inu-taisho and I became mates in his house by the sea in Osaka. I had never known such warmth, or such desire as I did when I was with him. I was his bride, and I gave him the most precious gifts a bride can offer her husband. I gave him my heart, body, and soul in a mixed passion neither of us had ever known.

I would never forget his kiss and it's honey sweet taste. I would never forget the musk of his body when it was drenched in heat. I would never forget the sound of his voice when he said my name in the dark. Yet, most of all, I would never forget the gift of life he would give me that night, which I would treasure for the rest of my life.

~~~~

(Inu-taisho)

I woke up that morning to find my bed empty with only me in it. "Mika?" I called, only to be hushed in response.

I sat up and turned my head as I found her by the cradle holding the tiny life in her arms that she had given birth to only a week ago. "He was crying again!" she told me with a smile as she cradled him in her arms.

I grinned and crawled out of bed to her side to hold her and look at him over her shoulder. "Was he hungry?"

Mika laughed silently. "There's no doubting it, he has your appetite."

I grinned as I put my face into her hair. A tiny coo came from the soft, warm bundle in her arms and then turned into a cry. Mika hushed him and rocked her arms as she smiled. She looked so beautiful when she smiled.

"We woke him up again!" she said as she shook his head.

I walked up to her and scooped up the tiny life in her arms. I hushed him and rocked him as I walked out to the balcony. I bounced him and whispered tiny demon words to him.

Mika came to my side and looked at him, then at me. "Dog Demon, that's what we'll name him. Well name him dog demon in my people's language." He told me in dog demon tongue.

I looked at her and whispered, "What name would that be?"

Mika smiled as she pulled the white swaddling cloth to show a tiny face with black hair and large purple eyes. The mirror image of me if I were human.

Mika took him into her arms as he began to doze. "Inu-yasha...our little Inu-yasha..."

~~~~

(Kagome)

"So, that's how it all began, huh?" I asked Polaris as my heart fluttered with joy.

Polaris smiled as she tended to the fire that night in the kitchen. "Yes, child, that is how it all began."